Peace Dialogue

A way to peace may be gleaned from the lives of three iconic persons who have passed on to the spirit world. They left behind wisdom to guide us and life examples we should emulate.  Words left us by Steve Jobs give us inspiration and guidance. Torch Bearers of the Civil Rights Movement, warrior brother Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, and intellectual giant Professor Derrick Bell left us a legacy of courage, conviction and integrity.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 is divided in three equal parts between Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leyman Gbowee, and Tawakkul Karman for their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace building work.

The founding father of the United States of America found their best working model for their new government not in the writings of Europeans but through their direct contact with the Iroquois League.  The Great law of Peace constructed by the Iroquois Confederacy existed centuries before the U.S. constitution was written.  It is in fact the true historical origin of freedom and democracy in the New World and indeed in modern civilization.

The Occupy Wall Street the beginning of a major social movement and all of us have a powerful precedent for   re-imagining a true democracy. Peace came to the Iroquois, not through war and conquest, but through the exercise of reason guided by the spiritual mind.  The Iroquois League is based not on the force of arms or rule of law, but spiritual concepts of natural law applied to human society.